


A Walk in the Clouds

by erienne



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Historical, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-26 22:14:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 18,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2668304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erienne/pseuds/erienne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Danny meeting each other in another place, in another time, yet still perfectly meant to be together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love historical romance and this story is an historical AU with the characters we love in an historical period and a setting that I hope you will find as fascinating as I do. When it came to choose the location (and the title) of this story, I was inspired by a movie that maybe you know, "A Walk in the Clouds", set in a beautiful place, the Napa Valley, in California. As for the historical time, I chose the Fifties. I'm sure that many of you, like me, believe that Steve and Danny are meant to be together, and they would be in any time and any place. That's how perfect they are for each other. This is what this story is about and I really hope you will like it. Thank you in advance for reading!
> 
> I do not own Hawaii Five-0, I just deeply love it! No copyright infringement intended.

Napa County, California, 1955.

 

Finally, he was home.

Danny Williams had been away on a work trip for two weeks that had felt like two years.

He parked his Chevrolet in the driveway and got out of the car without honking. He wanted to surprise his family.

He sneaked in the house and heard some voices coming from the living room. He headed there and stood on the door for a moment, looking at his sister Samantha, who was reading a book sitting on the couch, his grandmother Gladys, intent at watching the television, as usual at a _slightly_ too loud volume, and his parents playing cards with… yeah… _who was that guy?_

“I’m back”, Danny announced, his tone of voice a bit sour, since nobody had noticed him standing on the door.

Finally, his parents and his sister turned towards him and gave him the welcome he was expecting, standing up to hug him.

As usual, it took a little more for his grandmother to realize what was happening, she was way too absorbed in watching the television and, likely, a bit dazed by the loud volume of that thing that enchanted her like she was a little girl, then Danny got his warm welcome from her, too.

In the meantime, the unknown guy had gotten up and was standing politely aside. Danny noticed he was smiling at him.

Well? What was up with that smile? Was he training to be a testimonial for some brand of toohpaste? He had great chances of succeeding, Danny thought, since he was able to be objective even when looking at the guy warily.

“Daniel”, Mr Williams said, calling Danny’s attention. “Please, meet Steve McGarrett. He took over Smith’s horse riding ground… do you remember? Richard Smith told us he was going to sell it.”

Nodding, Danny reciprocated Steve’s strong handshake.

“Steve arrived a few days after you left for your work trip”, Danny’s mother said. “We’ve become great friends”, she added with a bright smile.

“I can see that”, Danny replied, and he wasn’t really surprised. Clara, his mother, was so cheerful and jovial, she was able to create a connection with almost everybody. His father, on the other hand, was more similar to Danny, reserved and diffident, so Danny couldn’t help feeling a bit bewildered when he saw Eddie inviting Steve to sit again on the couch and putting his arm around Steve’s shoulders while laughing at one of his jokes.

Danny frowned, his forehead creasing in thought, then he looked at his sister, who was again reading her novel, and a _terrible_ suspicion hit him.

One after the other, he looked at his father, his mother, his sister… even his grandmother, who kept ignoring him, lost in some south-american soap opera and its absurd plot twists… _Juan Miguel, I’m not your brother… I’m your grandfather!_ … and then he looked at Steve.

The look on Danny’s face must have been a bit intimidating, but Steve didn’t seem to notice… or care. He kept smiling and Danny wanted so bad to smack his face.

“Will you have dinner with us, Steve?”, Clara asked.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I have an appointment, work stuff. If I had known about this much relished return I most certainly would have changed my plans”, Steve replied, an ironic sparkle in his eyes.

Danny gave Steve a smile fake like a 3 dollar bill. _Was he trying to fool him?_

“… speaking of which…”, Steve said, after checking his watch, “… I’m late, I should definitely go”, he announced, rubbing his hands on his pants while he got up.

“I’ll see him out”, Danny self-interestedly offered.

As soon as Steve and Danny got alone, Danny abruptly turned towards Steve and pointed a finger on his chest. “Listen to me.”

Steve looked down at the finger pressed on his chest and, slowly and calmly, he circled Danny's wrist with his hand and made him lower his hand. “I’m all ears”, he said with a half smirk.

“Samantha is only 18. She’s too young to get married”, Danny explained, looking Steve straight in the eyes.

“I agree”, Steve said.

“You… agree?”, Danny repeated, confused.

“Absolutely”, Steve confirmed.

“So, you’re not interested in my sister?”

“She’s a gorgeous girl, but no, I’m not interested in your sister.”

Danny visibly relaxed and, getting back his nipping sense of humor, he asked: “Then what? Have you a crush on my grandmother? I’m sorry, I don’t think you have a chance and I’m pretty sure my grandfather would came from the afterlife to shoot you.”

Steve laughed.

“… and don’t delude yourself if she gave you false hopes. She does that with everyone that is so brave as to watch soap operas with her and eat her cookies, but the truth is she only loves _me_.”

“… I did both of those things and I admit I got my hopes up”, Steve played along.

“Did you _even_ eat her cookies? I have to commend you, it takes a lot of guts.”

Steve bowed slightly, like he was flattered by Danny’s compliment.

Danny smiled. “Maybe we could get along, after all.”

Steve looked at him intently before answering.

“We're gonna get along great.”


	2. Chapter 2

Enjoying the warmth of the sun on his arm resting on the open window of his car, Danny thought that beautiful day wasn’t made for working, nor for staying in the car. Luckily, he had taken care of all the things he had to do that day, so, once home, he was going to wear something more comfortable and take a nice walk.

On the way home, he noticed distractedly that someone was approaching at full gallop, cutting across the fields. Nothing strange about that: in that area many people preferred using horses and not eveybody had a car to use anyway.

Getting closer, he noticed it was Steve McGarrett. Still in the distance, Steve brougth two fingers to his forehead in greeting, so Danny pulled over and waited for Steve to reach him.

“Good morning!” Steve didn’t dismount his horse, but he bent his head to look at Danny. Danny stook his head out the window and greeted Steve back, squinting his eyes at the sunlight.

“Beautiful day, uh?”, Steve asked.

“Yeah… your hair… is wet”, Danny answered, a bit awkwardly.

“Yes, I’m coming back from the river. I was taking a tour of the surroundings and I thought that taking a bath in the river would have been perfect with this heat”, Steve explained.

“Your clothes are dry”, Danny pointed out… and why in the world he couldn’t just mind his own business?

“Nothing gets by you”, Steve answered ironically. “Well, I was in a covered area, if that makes you more comfortable.”

“Look, I am comfortable. If you like to strip in front of carps and trouts for a hobby, fine by me.”

At those words, Steve laughed so loudly that Danny suspected people could hear him all over California.

When he managed to calm down, Steve saw the grumpy bear expression Danny had on his face and was about to burst out laughing again.

“Are you enjoying yourself?”, Danny asked flatly, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel of his Chevrolet.

“Very much so”, Steve admitted, smiling. “Are you busy?”

“I’m coming back home”, Danny answered laconically.

“And then?”

“I was thinking about taking a walk. Do you want to know if I want to go to the bathroom between one thing and another?”

“It’s not a necessary detail, but thanks for the thought. Since you’re not busy, how about you come and see my horse riding ground? I’m making a lot of changes and I’d like to have your opinion.”

“I’m definitely not an expert on the matter”, Danny clarified.

“But you have opinions”, Steve replied.

“Yeah, lots of them. Someone would even say I have too many. Listen, let’s go, before your odd logic makes me want to bite this steering wheel.”

Steve smiled. “Okay. You know where it is. If you arrive first, don’t pick a fight with the horses”, he said, then he set his horse at full gallop.

 

“… these stalls are bigger than the ones we saw before”, Danny pointed out, while he was petting a bay horse and giving him some sugar cubes.

“Yes. We’re in the process of enlarging them all. The horses could barely move in the old ones.”

“And you feed them with grass, fodder and oat… Smith used to feed them only with hay.”

“Well, if they eat better, it’s more convenient for us, too…”

Danny smiled and run a hand over the back of the horse, feeling under his fingers his soft and clean fur.

“You don’t have to be ashamed of being good with your animals. My grandfather used to talk with the grapes, you know?”, Danny revealed with an amused tone. “I heard him doing that millions of times. He said that if you talk sweetly to them and you pay them compliments for the way they are growing, then they’ll reward you and the grape harvest will be plenteous… I think my father does that too, sometimes… but he manages to never get caught.”

“And you? Do you talk to the grapes as well?”, Steve asked, laughing.

“No”, Danny answered.

“… or maybe you manage to never get caught."

Danny’s response was just a surly look.

Steve grinned. “Are you expecting a good harvest this year?”

“Very good”, Danny said, his surly look immediately replaced by an enthusiast smile. “The past years have not been lucky for the wine and liquor producers… the Prohibition’s effects have been felt for a long time, but the sector is growing slowly again. During my work trip I made deals with several restaurants and hotels and this morning a local restaurateur signed another important contract with us.”

“Congratulations! And… what about the rest?”

“The rest?”, Danny asked, pretending he didn’t get what Steve was talking about.

“Well, yes. Your love life.”

“Let me understand. We met each other yesterday and you’re already asking me private questions? Are you trying to win the Nobel prize for discretion?”

“Do you think I have good chances?”, Steve asked with a disarming smile.”

Danny sighed, partly amused, partly resigned, then he looked away and started talking.

“Only a few months ago, I was planning my wedding. Then one day my fiancée tells me she met another man and she fell in love with him. And that he’s loaded. Well, she didn’t tell me he’s loaded, I found that out by myself.”

Danny looked at Steve, his chin up in a gesture of challenge, waiting for one of the usual reactions people got him used to since Rachel left him: veiled or less than veiled insults towards her or sad looks and pats on the shoulder.

Steve nodded, like he was thinking about what Danny had told him. “These things can happen. Evidently, she wasn’t the right person for you. What about we take the horses for a ride?”

Danny looked at Steve, a bit confused, while he was untying the bay Danny had cuddled the whole time.

“What?”, Steve asked, taking the saddle and putting it on the back of the horse.

Danny shook his head. “Nothing. Come on, let’s take a ride. But don’t think I won’t ask you about _your_ love life, now.”

“I don’t have much to say”, Steve replied, getting on his horse. “I’ve had some relationships, but I never fell in love. Never been engaged. Never wanted to get married.”

Danny got on the horse as well. “Commitment issues?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Oh, you’re a fearless guy, I get it”, Danny said, wryly. 

“Everybody has some kind of fear. I think that when you find the perfect person for you, the mere thought of not having that person next to you every single day of your life feels like the worst kind of fear. I want someone I need this much in my life”, Steve said, looking at Danny and nodding, like he was sure he had chosen the right words to express his thoughts on the matter. “Are you ready?”, he asked, about to start their ride.

“Let’s go?”

“Let’s go.”


	3. Chapter 3

After knocking at the door of the Williams house, Steve looked around, waiting for someone to let him in. After a few seconds, Danny opened the door wide and Steve’s look went from him to the baby who was going towards them, crawling across the hallway floor.

Steve gave Danny the basket he was holding in his hands so he could lift the baby up.

“Hello, little boy! Who are you?”

“Good morning, Steve! Come on in! Don’t bother greeting me, not a problem, you can absolutely ignore me…”, Danny said wryly. “While you’re busy cuddling my nephew, I’ll check what’s in this basket.”

“Your nephew? He’s beautiful!”

“Well, don’t sound so surprised”, Danny said, shutting the door with his foot. “It’s not very flattering. It sounded like _he’s beautiful, how can he be your nephew?_ ”.

“Your uncle is so vain, I knew it”, Steve replied, rubbing the baby’s belly.

“Me? Vain?”, Danny asked in an incredulous tone.

“Come on… look at you”, Steve said, “with your perfect hair, always all dressed up…”

“Danny? Who was at the door? Bring us Eric back, please.”

Hearing his mother calling him, Danny gave Steve a dirty look and reached for his nephew.

“I’ll bring him, can I?”, Steve asked, holding Eric tightly.

“Weren’t you the one who never wanted to get married and stuff?”, Danny pointed out while they headed towards the living room.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t like babies”, Steve clarified.

“Steve, dear, I’m glad you came”, Mrs Williams greeted him. “Finally, you can meet our daughter Heather”, she said, touching her husband’s arm and looking at Heather with a fond smile. “Sadly, her husband couldn’t come because he had to work today.”

Steve got closer to Danny’s sister and shook her hand after giving her Eric, then he sat on the couch, next to Danny.

“Steve, Eric keeps looking at you, I think you won him over”, Heather said.

Danny made a funny face and lifted up the cloth that covered the basket he was still holding in his hands.

“Is this lemon cake?”

“Yes”, Steve confirmed. “Ines, my governess, baked _a lot_ of cakes and cookies today. I brought you some lemon cake and chocolate cookies. You’ll love them, Ines is an amazing cook.”

“Samantha, can you please go to the kitchen, slice the cake and bring us some tea? The kettle is already on the stove”, Clara asked.

“Sure mom, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“My mother told me you moved here recently, Steve. Do you live with your family?”, Heather asked.

“No, I have a sister, but she lives in another town.”

“What about your parents?”

“Sadly, they both passed away.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that.”

Steve gave Heather a grateful smile.

“Danny, why don’t you put on that record Heather bought for grandma?”, Mr Williams suggested.

“Frank Sinatra”, Gladys said, and every woman in the room put on a dreamy expression.

Danny rolled his eyes while going to the record player. After a few seconds, the first song, _In the wee small hours of the morning_ , started.

“Samantha, hurry up with that cake, please!”

Heather laughed. “Danny _loves_ Sinatra”, she explained, “but he hates when we go all soppy about him. He’s so jealous! And we like to tease him!”

Steve smiled, looking at Danny. “He’s the perfect person to tease. He always takes the bait and has exactly the reaction you would expect to get.”

“You met each other only a few days ago and you already know him so well?”, Heather asked, laughing.

“Hey, can you two see me? Will you please stop talking like I’m not here?”, Danny complained.

Samantha got back in the living room, bringing a big tray with cake and tea.

“Finally! Come and sit here next to me, Sammy, I need some love… and some sugar”, Danny said theatrically. 

Clara laughed. “Danny has always been quite sensitive, ever since he was a child. We have a picture of his first birthday where he gives the stink eye to my husband because he took the cake away from him… he had literally dipped elbow deep into it!” 

Eddie smiled at the memory.

“I want to see that picture”, Steve immediately asked.

“In your dreams”, Danny replied, his mouth half full of lemon cake. “Now, stop poking fun at me or I swear I’ll marry the woman who made this _delicious_ cake and run away with her far, far away.”

“Ines is already married”, Steve informed him. “She and her husband are soulmates. One of the few things they don’t have in common is that he shaves his moustache… and she doesn't.”

“Well, that shows some confidence. A woman of many virtues.”

“She surely is.”

“… And now I’ll go fetch that picture”, Eddie Williams announced with a smirk.

“Dad!”


	4. Chapter 4

Absorbed in reading the account books, Danny didn’t realize he was being observed.

Carefully observed.

Leaning on the windowsill of the study, Steve waited a bit before showing his presence, knocking on the glass of the window with his knuckles.

“Hey, what are you doing out there? Come in”, Danny invited him.

“ _You_ come out."

“Me?”

“Sure. You lost a bet, don’t you remember?”

“Uhm… no”, Danny said. “I don’t remember”, he assured feigning innocence.

“So… you’re definitely not a good card player, you have a bad memory… You’re making me know all of your flaws, will I ever get to find out some of your qualities, too?”

“Maybe I don’t have any of those…”, said Danny, winking at Steve.

“Let me find that out….”, Steve answered. “Come on, I’ll wait here. I give you five minutes!”

When Danny went out, he found Steve leaning on his Chevrolet, to which he had already lowered the hood.

Steve held out his right hand with the palm up, an expression of pure satisfaction on his face.

Danny rummaged in his pocket to take the car keys out and pressed them painfully on Steve’s palm, disappointed when Steve kept smiling, imperturbably.

They got in the Chevrolet and Steve, while putting the car in motion, turned to look at Danny. “Come on! Don’t look at me like that! It’s not my fault! Knowing the rules of a game is not enough to win. You have to focus and be strategic and you… you distract yourself _way_ too easily.... and you're too impulsive."

Danny opened his mouth to reply, then he he closed it again, taking a deep breath. “No. This time I will ignore you.”

Steve nodded, as if he was taking note of that decision.

Predictably, that irritated Danny even more.

Careless of contradicting what he had just said about ignoring Steve, he started ranting and gesticulating. “You know what? I don’t know what’s more annoying, you being so sure of knowing me so well, or…”

“… or the fact that it’s true?”, Steve finished for him.

“I hate you”, Danny proclaimed. “And why are you laughing, now?”

“Because I know you, we have just established that.”

“So?”

“So I know too well that you don’t hate me.”

“… and, by the way, who distracts me when we play cards, uh?”, Danny asked, changing subject suddenly like he frequently did when they were bickering. “You! With your faces and your stupid jokes and… and your face! Why that doesn’t happen when I play with someone else, uh?”, he accused Steve.

“This is an interesting question”, Steve replied laughing. “Do you want to talk about that?”

“Nope. I just want to ignore you.”

“But you can’t.”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers, exasperated. “You wear me out”, he complained, then he looked outside the window. “Where are we going? I thought we were going downtown.”

“Nope. We’re going to the river. It’s one of my favorite places here.”

“But not mine!”, Danny protested.

“But _I_ won the bet”, Steve reminded him.

“Are you ever going to stop saying that?”

“It’s too much fun… God, it’s hot… can’t wait to be in the water.”

“What?”

“I want to take a bath, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Why?”

“I feel the cold. I only like bathtubs full of hot water.”

“It’s barely fall and this is California… the water is warm, believe me.”

“I don’t care. Water is not my element.”

“Oh. I get it.”

“What? What’s wrong with that, _Aquaman_? Do you want to put on your show for your trouts and carps? Be my guest. In the meantime, I will be sunbathing.”

After a dirt patch that led to the river, they got out of the car.

“I’m flattered that you take for granted that it would be a _show_ ”, Steve said with a sly smile.

“First of all, why did you take that as a compliment? A show can be good or bad, do you know that?”

Steve nodded with a half smile. “Second of all?”

“Second of all: we’re talking about trouts and carps here. Compared to the male specimen they’re used to, even you can be considered as an improvement.”

“Wow. Now, _that_ a compliment! I’m so moved I got chills.”

“Then you shouldn’t take a bath”, Danny suggested him while sitting on the grass.

“But the water is so inviting…”

“Then go”, Danny said, laying down and putting an arm over his eyes to protect them from the sun light. “Hurry up, I think I heard a trout yelling all excited and calling her friends.”

“I shouldn’t make them wait”, Steve pondered.

“It would be just cruel”, Danny agreed. Then he stood silent, enjoying the warmth of the sun and waiting to hear the noise of water or to understand, anyway, what Steve was doing, since he wasn’t talking anymore.

Shortly after, Danny took his arm off his face and got up on his elbow, finding Steve sitting on the grass, next to him.

“What happened to your bath?”, Danny asked, laying back down like before.

“Didn’t feel like it anymore”, Steve answered, now his turn to lay down. They stood silent for a while, then Steve talked again. “So you don’t know how to swim.”

“What?”, Danny took his arm of his eyes to look at Steve.

“You can’t swim?”, Steve asked, smiling.

“I swim for survival, not for fun, okay?”

“I could teach you”, Steve offered.

“Listen, can we sunbathe in silence?” Danny covered his eyes again.

“Okay.”

“Thank you.”

“If you want me to teach you, you just have to ask.”

“Will you shut up, please?”

“Okay.”

“Thank you.”


	5. Chapter 5

The warm sun of October heated the air pleasantly and gave a special light to that day – at least so it seemed to all the people gathered for that tough day of work, the day of the grape harvest.

The farmhands were already at their places, ready to start cutting the bunches of grapes, and so were Danny, his father and Matt, Danny’s brother, who came to help them during the harvest.

After giving all the instructions, Eddie Williams started clapping his hands and everyone in the vineyard joined him in that applause of encouragement.  
Danny heard a vigorous clapping of hands right behind him, he turned around and saw Steve.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to help.”

“To help? Have you ever harvested grapes?”, Danny asked, smiling.

“Nope.”

“Exactly.”

“Danny, don’t be a killjoy, I came here with all my enthusiasm…”, Steve said, then he looked Danny up and down.

“What are you looking at me like that for?”

“It’s the first time I see you dressed like this”, Steve replied, pointing at Danny’s jeans and plaid shirt.

“Did you think I was going to harvesting in a silk shirt and trousers?”, Danny asked, amused.

“… it suits you”, Steve complimented him.

“Thank you. Now, if we’re done discussing my country outfit, can we start working?”

“Sure, teach me”, Steve said, rubbing his hands.

“Teach me?”

“I told you it’s the first time I harvest grapes. I need you to teach me how to do that.”

“Well… you have to use this…”, Danny said, showing Steve a knife with a curved blade. They went closer to the nearest line of grapevine. “Take the bunch and cut the stalk down, like this, see? You can try yourself, come on”, he encouraged Steve, taking his hand and placing it in the right position, guiding him in his first attempt at cutting a bunch of grapes. “Good… nicely done”, Danny said, and he looked at Steve, noticing he wasn’t looking at what he was doing. “Steve, do you want to cut yourself? Don’t look at me, you have to look at the knife. Try again, come on, this time all by yourself.”

Steve focused and cut some bunches. It was Danny’s turn, now, to stare at Steve. It was just so funny and endearing to see him putting so much effort in that task.

When Steve turned to look at him, Danny found himself short of his usual sarcastic jokes.

“Well? When are you going to introduce me to your friend, Danny? He is the famous Steve, isn’t he?”

Danny looked at his brother and nodded. “Steve, meet my brother Matthew. Officially, he came to help with the harvest. Substantially, after five minutes of enthusiastic work, he already started to chat, play around and try to distract everyone else. Basically, what he does every year.”

“You’re such a liar…”, Matt said with fake indignation.

“I’m not. Steve will see for himself”, Danny said, winking at Matt. “I’m going to check on the farmhands. Don’t make any damage.”

Danny managed to come back next to Steve only during the lunch break. He put a hand on Steve’s shoulder and told him: “We’re going to have my mother’s lasagna for lunch… You will love it, you’ll see… what’s with the face?”

“I don’t have a face".

“Yes, you do. You have a face. Let me look at you… yes, that’s your constipated face. That’s not your _I’ll pretend I’m offended to see if you fall for it and possibly feel guilty for something you did_ face."

”What… I don’t make any faces!”

“You do, believe me. Now tell me what’s wrong and let’s go eat, I’m starving.”

“There’s nothing…”

“Steve.”

“Well, you could have stayed with me, since it’s my first harvest. And those farmhands have been doing this for _years_ , they surely don’t need you to breathe down their neck”, Steve finally admitted.

Danny smiled. “Okay. Now we can go eat. We’ll sit _very_ close to each other and I promise I will breathe down your neck. That will make you happy, _Steven_?”

Steve frowned and that made Danny laugh as they went to sit at one of the long tables that had been set for lunch.

They ate quickly, like everybody else, but they found time to bicker and, when they got – temporarily – tired of all that bickering, Danny explained to Steve all the process through which the grapes become must and the must becomes wine.

The lesson – and the bickering – kept going on after the lunch break, as they filled with grapes basket after basket, crate after crate.

All the afternoon, together, as Steve had requested.

They kept working till a bit before sunset, when all the grapes were ready to be dumped in an enormous vat.

As the vat was getting filled, Eddie started clapping his hands, asking the musicians to play their accordions, guitars and violins. All the women marked the rhytm clapping their hands along with Eddie. Someone started dancing, someone else sung the song the musicians were playing.

Finally, the vat was full of all the grapes. “Take off your shoes and socks”, Danny told Steve, as he did the same. “Now we’re going to crush the grapes. It’s such a great moment, you’ll see.”

Many others entered the vat and Steve and Danny followed, their jeans folded up to their knees, trying to coordinate the movements of their feet, crushing the grapes, and those of their hands, clapping in time to the music. Easier said than done, but very, very funny.

“What are you doing?”, Danny asked, laughing while looking at Steve.

“I’m pressing the grapes, what do you think?”, Steve replied, winking at Danny.

“It looks like you’re doing some weird rain dance, you know that?”

“See? I have so many skills! I know how to do the rain dance, I know how to crush grapes, _I know how to swim_ …”

After that provocation, Danny pushed Steve, who fell gracelessly on the grapes.

“… you know how to look great all besmeared with grapes...”, Danny finished with a satisfied grin.

Steve’s only answer was to grab Danny by the edge of his jeans, pulling him and making him fall right on top of himself. 

Their faces were inches from each other.

“You look great, too”, Steve said, smearing Danny’s face and hair with grape juice.

“Not the hair!”, Danny protested, making Steve burst out laughing, so contagiously that Danny couldn’t help joining him.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny was with his father, checking and organizing the labels for the bottles of wine, when he heard the doorbell ring and he pricked up his ears.

“Why did we order only fifty of these?”, Eddie asked.

“Because… we needed only fifty”, Danny cut him short. “I’ll be back in a minute”, he said, getting up and going to open the door of the study.

“Mom? Who was at the door?”

“The milkman, Danny. Are you waiting for someone?”

“No…”

But he was, damn it! He didn’t hear or see Steve for three days and it was so weird!

“Danny?”

“Uh?”

“The printer misspelled _chardonnay_. On _every_ label”, his father informed him.

“Perfect”, Danny answered, absently.

“Perfect? Danny, he must print them again with the correct spelling!”

“Sure. Listen, dad, I have to go now. We’ll keep working when I’m back, okay?”, Danny asked, but it was a rhetorical question: before Eddie could even answer, Danny had already left.

 

It was the first time Danny went to Steve’s home. 

When he rang the bell, a woman came to open the door. Ines, for sure. The moustache matched.

Danny greeted the woman and asked if Steve was home.

“Yes, he’s home. May I ask who you are?” 

“I’m Danny Williams… we’re friends.”

“Please, come in, Mr. Williams. Mr. McGarrett is upstairs, in his bedroom. I’m afraid he won’t be able to come downstairs.”

“Why? What’s wrong? Is he not feeling good?”

“He’s been sick with the fever for three days, now. It keeps going up and down. But he’s feeling a bit better today. Please, come with me, I’ll show you upstairs.”

“Did the doctor come to see him?”, Danny asked.

“Yes. He didn’t want to call the doctor, at first, but I convinced him. Nothing to be worried about, it’s a simple fever, but it has been very high at times, so he’s quite weak now. He should drink a lot and eat something nutritious, but… let’s just say he’s not an easy patient.”

“That’s not surprising at all”, Danny said, wryly. “Please, can you prepare him something now? I’ll convince him to eat.”

Ines nodded. “That’s his room. If he’s asleep, please don’t wake him up. He didn’t sleep much these days, he must be exhausted.”

Cautiously opening the door of Steve’s bedroom, Danny went in and saw Steve in his bed, laying on his side, his back to the door. 

He closed the door without making any noise and got closer to the bed, standing up silently.

“Please stop staring at me, Ines. I told you I’m not hungry, the mere thought of eating something makes me want to throw up…”

Danny shook his head, half smiling. He bent over, putting a knee on the bed, reaching for Steve’s forehead to check his temperature. Feeling Danny’s hand, Steve turned his head immediately.

“Danny! What are you doing here?”

“What I would have done yesterday and the day before yesterday, if you had had the decency to let me know you were sick”, Danny scolded him, his hand still touching Steve’s forehead. “Your forehead is hot.”

“I’m fine”, Steve muttered.

“You look awful”, Danny contradicted him unmercifully.”

“Thank you so much, you’re so kind”, Steve drawled.

“Ines will bring you something to eat in a few minutes…”

“I can’t eat… I’m sick to my stomach.”

"You will eat! You’re weak now, you have to recover your strength”, Danny said, his hand slipping from Steve’s forehead to his shoulder. 

When Steve changed his position to lay on his back, Danny couldn’t help looking at Steve’s chest, since the shirt of his pajama was almost totally unfastened.

“What’s the point of keeping your pajama like that?”, Danny asked.

“I know, but Ines comes in often to check on me, I can’t take it off…”

“I meant you should button it up”, Danny clarified. “So you won’t catch cold.” And maybe also because it wasn’t easy at all to look at him in the eyes in that moment.

“Cold? I feel like I’m boiling!”, Steve answered.

Danny looked away. He couldn’t blame Steve: it was actually very hot in that room.

“Maybe we should open the window to air the room, don’t you think?”

In that moment, Ines knocked on the door.

“Come in, Ines”, Steve invited her.

“I brought you something to eat”, the woman said, looking like she was expecting to be thanked and told again to bring the food back in the kitchen.

“Thank you, Ines, can you put it in the bedside table?”, Steve asked instead.

Placing the tray on the table, Ines gave an intrigued look at Danny, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed. She really didn’t know how that man could had talked Steve into eating a proper meal, since she had tried and failed multiple times.

When Ines left the bedroom, Danny got up and took the cover from the tray.

“Boiled rice, toasted bread with ham and cheese and a baked apple. Yum!”

“Danny, I’m not a child. I’ll have the rice.”

“Sure. And the toast. And the apple. And I will be here looking at you while you eat.”

“I hate you…”

“Eat your rice while you hate me”, Danny said, handing him the dish with a big smile and, as promised, watching him eat, spoonful after spoonful, all the rice.

As it was predictable, Steve found himself to be way hungrier than he thought. He ate the toast and the apple, too, and Danny kept looking at him, his eyes full of caring and sweetness.

When Steve was done eating, Danny put the tray and the cutlery back on the bedside table, then he went back to Steve to check his forehead.

“You’re a little less hot than before, but I think you still have a fever…”, he said, pressing a hand on Steve’s forehead. “Where is the thermometer?”, he asked, and he was about to walk away from the bed to look for it when Steve stopped him, circling Danny’s wrist with his hand. He looked at Danny, his eyes shiny with fever, and Danny felt the odd sensation of swaying towards Steve.

“Thank you for coming”, Steve said, his voice hoarse because of the fever, but also because he was touched: nobody had cared for him that way for a long time now.

Danny swallowed, fighting to control his own emotions. “Are you dismissing me?”, he asked, trying to lighten the atmosphere between them.

“No. Stay. Stay as much as you want”, Steve replied, closing his tired eyes, a relaxed and happy expression on his face.


	7. Chapter 7

October had passed and so had the first part of November. The wine had fermented and, like every year, a big celebration was being held in the marketplace. Every big wine producer was there.

It was a very characteristic event: the square was filled with folk music and many people were dressed in colorful and festive traditional costumes.

Danny and his family had reached the marketplace with some of their old decorated carts, drawn by horses, courtesy of Steve, who had decided he couldn’t miss the celebration.

Everybody was waiting for the priest to recite the blessing of the harvest, the most important moment of the whole ceremony. The crowd went silent as he reached the long table full of the wine bottles that represented the harvest of every producer of the region. 

He started reciting the blessing with his clear and loud voice. “We thank you, Lord in heaven, for bestowing on us the bounty of thy harvest. We ask only that each life here be blessed with the full measure of love, health, and happiness that those who acknowledge God in heaven justly deserve. Amen.”

“Amen”, everybody answered. 

The priest took one of the bottles, uncorked it and filled a glass. He smelled the wine, tasted it and announced it was excellent. Everybody clapped their hands and the musicians started playing again, while the people sang, danced or chatted while eating and drinking something.

Danny, leaning on the table, was laughing at one of Steve’s jokes.

“I’m telling you, one can really tell apart the taste and aroma of every wood, flower, fruit… sure, you gotta have a refined and trained palate to do that. See… you can taste the sweet flavors on the tip of your tongue, the acidic ones on the sides, you can feel the salty tastes at the center, while the bitterness is felt on the back of your tongue. The bitter flavors are usually those that last longer… the aftertaste.”

“You should stop talking about flavors and tongues or I think I’m gonna blush, Danny”, Steve said with a cheeky smile.

“You’re such a jerk”, Danny replied, rolling his eyes and looking away. He tensed up, his expression changed and Steve noticed it immediately.

“Danny, hey… what’s up? Are you okay?”, he asked, touching Danny’s arm.

“No…”, Danny whispered, staring at something behind Steve, who turned around and saw a woman walking towards them.

“Who’s that?”

“She’s Rachel”, Danny answered flatly, and it was Steve’s turn to tense up hearing that name.

“Daniel…”

Feigning and indifference he wasn’t feeling, Danny got closer to Rachel, taking a few steps towards her.

“Rachel. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Steve couldn’t hear what they were saying, yet he couldn’t look away, even if he knew it wasn’t polite to stare.

“I came with Stan. He has business relationships with many of these producers and is trying to build new ones.”

“I guess he knows some producers are not interested in making business with him.”

“I told him about you”, Rachel said. “Many times. He knows how important you have been to me.”

Danny’s answer was only a bitter and sarcastic grin.

“How are you doing, Daniel?”

“Just wonderfully”, he answered, showing her his wrists. “See? Didn’t cut my veins! How about you, _dearie_? When’s the happy event?”

“We pushed back the wedding date because of some work engagements Stan couldn’t cancel.”

“Your fiancé has quite weird priorities”, Danny remarked.

“He’s very focused on his job”, Rachel said, looking taut, like what she really wanted to say was he thinks his job his more important than me.

“Well, he doesn’t seem so focused on his job, now. He clearly noticed you’re here talking with me and not beside him. He’s staring at us”, Danny said, looking back at Stan.

Rachel turned to look at Stan, then again towards Danny.

“I should go. Please, greet your parents for me.”

Danny nodded, looked for a moment at Rachel while she was walking towards Stan, then he went back to Steve.

“Looks like there’s trouble in paradise”, he told Steve.

Steve answered with a blank: “Yeah?”

Danny took a thoughtful expression. “She didn’t seem happy to me.”

Steve stood silent and Danny frowned asking: “What’s with the face?”

“What face?”, Steve asked back.

“You know it. That face. The _I know something you are too obtuse to get_ face. So? I’m listening. Enlighten me”, Danny challenged him.

“Do you really want to know what I’m thinking?”, Steve asked, looking straight in Danny’s eyes.

“I really can’t wait anymore, go on, please”, Danny said wryly.

“I think she built a new life with Stan, yet she doesn’t accept you could do that, too, so she tries to keep you somehow connected to her with these mean little ways, making you think she’s not happy with Stan. But true love is not something you can turn on and off as you please…”

“And what do you know about love, uh? You were the one who told me you never have been in love”, Danny reminded him.

Steve hesitated, like he was thinking about what he wanted to say. “If you’re not interested in my opinion, then don’t ask for it.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion. I was telling you what happened and you started lecturing me.”

“I wasn’t… I didn’t want to lecture you! I don’t want you to get hurt, okay? I just want you to be happy, Danny, that’s all.”

“Okay. Thank you”, Danny replied, still being defensive.

“You’re welcome”, Steve said, as tensed up as Danny was.

“Danny?”

Hearing Samantha calling him, Danny turned to look at her.

“Dad needs you”, the girl said.

Danny nodded, then he took a deep sigh. He looked at Steve intensely and placed his hand on Steve’s arm. “I’m sorry.”

Steve looked back at him and got a bit closer, his hand reaching Danny’s on his arm. “I have no problem putting up with your bad temper. Always remember that”, he said with a half smile.

“I’ll remember that”, Danny replied, smiling back at him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I made you wait, I had a few busy months! I hope someone is still interested in reading this story!

The long and plentiful Thanksgiving dinner was about to end. They were all gathered around the table. Heather wasn’t there, she was celebrating with her husband’s family, but her absence was compensated for by Steve’s presence.

After having had two portions of stuffed turkey with a side of potatoes and cranberry sauce and two pieces of pumpkin pie, Steve looked happy and sated.

“And now a piece of resistance… “, Eddie Williams announced getting up from his chair. “It will help us digest.”

“I could use that”, Steve admitted. “It was all too delicious not to have plenty of it”, he said, nodding gallantly at Mrs Williams, who blushed a bit at the compliment.

“Thank you, Steve… but don’t think you won’t have to share with us what you are thankful for this year.”

They had prayed together, before dinner, and Clara, Samantha and Matt had given their thanks.

Eddie had played smart, taking Clara’s hand and saying he was thankful for the same reasons as hers… knowing that Clara had never been able to resist that look in her husband’s eyes.

Steve and Danny, on the other hand, had tried to buy time, like two kids too shy to talk in front of an audience, but Clara wasn’t clearly one to give up easily.

“I’m sure you will feel more like giving your thanks after this”, Matt said, looking at his father who was coming back holding a bottle in his hand.

“It’s red hot chili pepper grappa. An Italian friend gave it to me”, Eddie told Steve. “You _have_ to try it.”

Instinctively, Steve looked at Danny with a vaguely doubtful expression on his face and, meeting Danny’s amused eyes, the doubt became certainty: they were about to perpetrate an attack against Steve.

“Red hot chili pepper, uh? Will Danny drink it, too?”, Steve asked.

“After you, my friend”, Danny answered with a grin.

Eddie handed Steve a glass with a little liquor. Steve looked at the red liquid with suspicion, then he took a sip of it, he swallowed and… he felt like his internal organs were liquefying. He coughed, his face red, tears in his eyes. He heard Danny laughing and felt Danny’s hand patting his back repeatedly.

“It’s good, isn’t it?”, Eddie asked, pouring himself a shot of grappa and drinking it like it was fresh water.

“Excellent”, Steve lied. “Okay, now I know what I’m thankful for”, he announced.

“I told you so…”, Matt said, laughing.

“So… I’m thankful I survived this grappa”, Steve started making everybody laugh. “I’m thankful… ” Steve stopped for a second, like he was thinking about what he was going to say. He turned to look at Danny and met his eyes. “I’m thankful I met you, all of you, I’m thankful I’m here with you guys…” Steve noticed that everybody’s expression softened at those words and he felt embarrassed.

“Okay, Steve. That shade of red on your ears and your neck is getting worrisome”, Danny said.

“It’s the grappa!”, Steve protested.

“Leave him alone, Danny. It’s your turn to give your thanks”, Clara reminded his son, making him roll his eyes. 

Danny hesitated a bit, then he started talking. “I’m thankful… for the same reasons as his”, he finally said, looking at Steve. “And for the third piece of cake I’m about to eat.” 

Samantha laughed. “You’re a bottomless pit, Danny.”

Matt looked at his watch and got up rubbing his hands.

“I’m sorry, I really have to go now.”

“When will you introduce us to her?”, Danny provoked him.

“I have yet to decide which one I want to introduce you”, Matt replied with a sly smile. He kissed his grandmother, Clara and Samantha on the cheek and then left the room saying goodbye. 

“My brother’s sentimental life is way more eventful than mine”, Danny grumbled. “It makes me want to drink all that grappa…”

“… and losing even the tiniest chance of beating me at poker?”, Steve teased him.

“Since I never got to beat you when I was sober, maybe being drunk would do the trick, what do you know?”, Danny said smiling.

They all left the table and went in the living room. Danny put an Ella Fitzgerald record on.

Eddie, who was maybe starting to feel the aftermath of the grappa he had drank, sat on the couch and said he wasn’t feeling like playing cards, Danny’s grandmother was watching a movie and Clara and Samantha were in the kitchen making some coffee for everybody.

In the meantime, Steve and Danny were playing poker and, surprisingly, Danny was winning.

“Well? What’s going on? Looks like that grappa really knocked you out.”

Steve snorted. “It’s just that we didn’t bet on anything. I don’t feel motivated.”

“Come on, don’t pout”, Danny said, making fun of Steve. “What do you want to bet on?”

“If I win, we’ll make that hike on Mount Saint Helena you promised me weeks ago”, Steve proposed.

“Seriously, _Steven_? The idea of walking for hours on a mountain makes you feel _motivated_?, Danny asked incredulously.

Steve nodded without saying anything else. They kept playing and Steve focused on the game till he ended it with a royal flush and a satisfied smile on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

“This is not a hike, Steven. This is a deliberate torture for my poor feet”, Danny whined while trying to walk on the rough terrain of Mount Saint Helena without tripping. 

Steve’s only answer was to smile and keep walking.

“Don’t…”, Danny sighed in exasperation. “Don’t smile. I’m talking about my poor, aching feet, have a little mercy!”

“Okay, let’s stop for a minute… Do you want me to massage your feet, too?”

“You’re so funny. You’re having a field day, aren’t you?”

“Based on how you cracked yourself up only ten minutes ago I thought you were having fun, too”, Steve pointed out.

“I laughed because that squirrel walked in front of you, stopped for a second, goggled at you and then run away. How was I supposed not to laugh?”, Danny asked, still amused by what had happened with the squirrel.

“I think he might be cross-eyed or something like that… he was actually looking at you, you know? You’re the one who scared him away.”

“You’re delusional, my friend… ”

“Shh… stop talking for a second. Look at this view…”, Steve said. “When I was a kid, my father and I used to go to the mountains… we stayed out all day, my mother prepared our lunch, but I never wanted to stop to eat, I just wanted to keep walking and listening to my dad, to all the things he knew about what we were seeing, all the stories he told… I still remember everything like it was yesterday.”

Seeing Steve’s nostalgic smile, Danny swallowed, finding himself at loss for words, a deep feeling of affection in his heart. He wondered if there was a way to let Steve know how touched he was without looking like a sappy fool… The thought of hugging Steve crossed Danny’s mind before being dismissed like a stupid and _what-am-I-even-thinking_ idea.

Danny met Steve’s eyes and noticed the way he was looking at him. There was so much tenderness in his eyes. 

For a long moment, the silence between them sounded very loud.

“… let’s keep walking, shall we?”, Steve proposed, feeling like he should say something.

Danny sighed. “Why don’t we grab a bite to eat and then we keep climbing? My feet are still burning.”

“Actually, we have to go back and do it quickly, too. Look at the sky”, Steve said, and both of them looked up and saw the big, dark clouds that threatened rain at any moment.

“I’m sorry, didn’t you say this was the _perfect_ day to go to the mountains?”, Danny asked, his voice going a little higher.

Steve grabbed Danny’s arm and started walking. “Hey, I’m not God Almighty! Walk faster!”

“Hey, I don’t have giraffe legs like you do!”

“Someone would call it compensation law, with that big mouth you got.”

“Shut up and run!”

They run downhill for a bit, then the rain started pouring down.

Suddenly, Danny stopped and started looking around.

“What are you doing? Keep running!”, Steve shouted.

“No! Come here! There are some hunting cabins around here. Well, at least there were some when I came here the last time. Follow me!”

“And when was the last time you came here?”

“I don’t remember. Years ago!”

“Awesome!”

Luckily, Danny was right and, after running and soaking themselves a little more, they reached one of the cabins.

As soon as they got inside, Steve looked at Danny… bursting out laughing.

“Are you seriously trying to make me want to kill you?”, Danny asked, on the verge of exasperation.

Steve run a hand through Danny’s hair, now wet and shapeless on his head.

“Interesting hairstyle”, he said, teasing Danny. Then he took off his backpack and knelt down to search something inside it.

“Please, Danny, put some of those sticks together so we can light a fire. We have to dry ourselves or we’ll catch a cold for sure.”

“Oh, that’s so considerate of you”, Danny answered, doing as he was told, but unable to keep himself from being sarcastic. “You and your bets. If I wouldn’t have listened to you I would be home right now. Warm. Dry. Watching the rain falling from my window instead of having it down my pants!”

While Danny kept grumbling, Steve lit the fire.

“… and I would be drinking some hot tea. With cookies. My grandma made cookies this morning. What are you doing?”, Danny asked, seeing that Steve was taking his jacket off. And then his sweater. When he saw that Steve was starting to take his shirt off, too, Danny jumped up. “What are you doing?”

Steve put the jacket and the sweater on an old window seat and dragged it closer to the fire.

“I let the clothes dry”, he explained calmly, before taking off his shirt, too.

“Go ahead, please. Take off your pants, too, while you’re at it!”, Danny said, a _slightly_ nervous hint to his voice.

Steve turned to look at Danny and placed his hand on his belt buckle.

“Knock it off. This cabin is already too small without me having to share it with a goof in his underwear.”

“You should take your clothes off, too, or you’ll spend the next days in bed with a fever”, Steve suggested, sitting on the floor after opening the window of the cabin so the smoke could come out.

Steve followed Danny’s moves with his eyes, watching him taking off his jacket drenched with rain and his sweater and putting them on the window seat, next to Steve’s.

“Come here, next to the fire”, Steve said.

Danny sat on the floor, next to Steve. His shirt was uncomfortably damp on his skin and he started unbuttoning it with jerky movements.

“I could've been home right now. Drinking that hot tea. You could’ve been there, too. Because I’m a nice person.”

"Danny..."

“… and my grandma made cookies today. I already told you that, didn’t I? The ones with the almonds, you know? Because you told her you like those. She adores you, she _loves_ you! Platonically, of course…”

“Danny…”

“We could’ve been home. _With our clothes on._ ”

It happened in a moment.

Steve’s hands dropped heavily on Danny’s shoulders and Danny’s senses registered Steve’s kiss before his mind.

And his senses got the better of his mind when it came to kiss Steve back.

He felt Steve’s hands go from his shoulders to his chest, inside his open shirt, touching his stomach, his hips, his back.

Steve kissed and touched Danny with heat and urgency, overwhelming Danny, shutting his mind down… The way Danny was kissing him back, with the same heat and desire as his own, made Steve’s heart burst with joy.

When they broke the kiss to gasp for breath, Steve held Danny in a tight hug and then he kept kissing him repeatedly on his cheeks, his neck, his lips, as if he could never have enough of that.

There wasn’t any sound of rain coming from outside anymore. The fire kept crackling next to them.

But the loudest noise came from Danny’s thought, from his mind that was now trying to take its revenge on Danny’s senses.

Danny swallowed, still a bit short of breath, he moved in Steve’s arms and Steve turned his face so he could look Danny in the eyes

… and Steve looking at him that way was everything Danny wanted… he wanted that with all his heart… but his mind was confusing him.

He put his hands on Steve’s shoulders and pulled himself up. He buttoned his shirt quickly, then he took his sweater and put it on with slightly trembling hands.

“Danny…”

“We should better go now before it gets dark”, Danny said, feeling the damp cloth of his jacket in his hands. Then he got out of the cabin, hoping that the cold air could clear his head.


	10. Chapter 10

Okay. He had tried.

He had _really_ tried.

They day before, when they were going back home, Danny had told Steve he knew they had to talk, but he needed some time.

And Steve waited. A day. It felt like a year, though. Did that count?

He had spent every single minute thinking about that kiss and resisting the urge to go find Danny.

Past dinner time, Steve decided to end that torture, because if Danny needed time and space, Steve needed his sanity.

When he arrived at the Williams’ house, he immediately noticed that the Chevrolet wasn’t parked on the driveway as usual. He rang the doorbell and Eddie came to open the door and told Steve Danny wasn’t home.

“How long has he been out?”, Steve asked.

“He left in the afternoon”, Eddie said.

“Left?”, Steve repeated, hit by those words, yet trying to pretend to be casual.

“Yes, to meet those producers in Madera. He should be back in two days, three, tops."

“But… we planned the trip to Madera together, you were supposed to go there tomorrow, Danny should’ve stayed here to meet the owner of that restaurant…”

“Yeah, Richardson. I’m going to meet him, instead. I don’t know why Danny changed his mind. I think he had other stuff to do… but why are we still at the door?”, Eddie laughed. “Come in!”

Steve shook his head no. “Thank you. I’m sorry for coming at such a late hour.”

“Are you kidding me? You know you’re always welcome here!”, Eddie said, smiling. “Are you okay, Steve? You seem a little off.”

“Everything’s fine”, Steve lied. “Say hi to everyone for me, okay?”

“I will. Good night, then.”

“Good night”, Steve told Eddie, then he went back to his Ford. Once in the car, he hit the steering wheel, then he took a deep breath and started the car. Danny had run away from him and he couldn’t help being mad. Yes, Danny had asked him some time and space, but Steve didn’t think that the damn time would’ve been _days_ and the damn space would’ve meant all those miles between them.

Once home, he went upstairs and took a hot bath to help himself relax, then he put his pajamas on with absent-minded and mechanical gestures and he went to bed. He still felt like he was tied up inside in a thousand knots, so many thoughts were teeming in his mind. He tried to stop that train of thought to see if he could catch some sleep, but it was impossible. He kept tossing and turning until he got up and sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his hands on his face.

He turned the light on and dressed himself quickly. His reasonable and patient side had fought – and lost – against his impulsive side: it simply wasn’t the time to be reasonable and patient. Or maybe it was, but Steve didn’t want to be _reasonable and patient_. He remembered too well the way Danny had kissed him back and he knew that Danny was running from him only because he was _thinking_ , and sometimes thinking, trying to be rational, can be the wrong thing to do, when it keeps you from being happy. He wanted Danny to understand that.

He drove for hours and it was already morning when he arrived in Madera, in front of the hotel that hosted all the producers that were going to take part in the meetings and conferences of those days.

He walked in and stopped at the reception.

“Good morning. I’m looking for Mister Daniel Williams, can you help me?”

The receptionist looked at Steve with sleepy eyes, then he looked at the register.

“Daniel Williams, room 18, second floor. I think he might still be sleeping, though. If you want to wait in the hall I could…”

“Thank you, but he’s waiting for me”, Steve lied.

“You have to leave your ID here at the reception, Sir.”

Steve gave his ID to the receptionist, then he took the stairs and knocked at the door of Danny’s room.

Danny was dressing himself after a shower: he had trouble sleeping himself and as soon as the daylight filled the room he thought he might as well get up and start his day earlier. When he heard someone knocking, he finished buttoning his shirt and went to open the door. When he saw it was Steve, his heart skipped a beat. He opened his mouth, then he shut it, he turned around and went back inside, in front of the mirror of the dresser. He brought his hands to the collar of his shirt, only to realize he had already buttoned it.

“Okay”, Danny said, turning to look at Steve, who had walked in the room and taken off his jacket with a confident and calm attitude that Danny frankly envied him. “Let’s try to be rational.” 

Steve’s answer was an half grin that made Danny want to punch him or, alternatively, to throw any rationality out the window and Steve on the still unmade bed. “I guess you want to talk _about what happened_ ”, Danny said, trying to sound calm and collected.

“No”.

Danny looked at Steve, confused.

“I mean, it didn’t _happen_. I wanted it for a long time. I thought about that, I fantasized about that, I needed that. It didn’t _happen_.

Danny swallowed, trying – even if he knew that his chances at succeeding were really slim – to keep his resolution to be rational, although the way Steve talked to him and looked at him were definitely classifiable as lethal weapons against his clearness of mind.

“Let’s look at our options”, Danny started, and Steve smiled again. He had the feeling Danny had that whole speech prepared and he was curious to listen to it.

“We can try to pretend nothing happened”, Danny suggested. His voice was insecure and his knees went weak when Steve, after listening to his words, got closer to him, slowly, until he was only inches away from Danny. He didn’t touch Danny, he only looked at him, and he was _so close_ to him.

Danny blushed visibly and took some steps backwards. “Okay. We can’t pretend nothing happened”, he admitted. “We could stop seeing each other.”

That option sounded so absurd that Steve laughed ironically.

Danny sighed. “Then I guess we could… try to live _this thing between us_ and see what happens.”

Steve noticed that Danny was deliberately avoiding to say things like “being a couple” or “being together”, but he had always valued facts over words, so he was cool with that. “Perfect”, he said, and Danny looked at him intently.

“You’re not scared”, Danny realized.

“No”, Steve confirmed.

“I guess you’re a better man than me”, Danny said.

“That’s not true”, Steve told him, getting even closer to Danny and putting his hands on Danny’s shoulders, shaking him fondly for what he had just said. “I understand you. I don’t have to give any explanation to anybody… I’m alone, you have a family…”

“You have a family too now, you know that… and it’s not just the fact that… you’re not the most feminine creature I know…”, he joked, “… you’re definitely too hairy… you pee standing up…”

“Can’t you simply say I’m a man?”, Steve laughed. Then he asked: “So, it’s not just about that?”

“No. I mean, it’s complicated. Really complicated. But we don’t have to explain anything to anybody, right? Like I said, let’s live this thing between us and see what happens.”

“Right”, Steve answered. He realized that Danny was clearly stating he didn’t want anyone to know what was going on between them and he wasn’t thrilled about that, but he didn’t want to push Danny and he understood his motives. “Then, what are you scared of?”, he asked.

“It’s not easy for me to risk again after what happened with Rachel”, Danny admitted.

“Rachel? Rachel who? There’s no Rachel anymore. It’s me and you. I’m not like Rachel…”

“I’m very aware of that”, Danny laughed.

“… this is a new beginning”, Steve continued, all serious. “We have to put the past behind us. It’s me and you”, he said again, and then he kissed Danny, taking some steps towards the bed until they fell on it.

They kissed each other for a long time, slowly, savoring each other, getting to know each other.

Steve unbuttoned Danny’s shirt and he placed some kiss on his neck and his chest in the process.

“Madera, uh?”, he asked, between a kiss and another.

“It’s a city known for his wine production”, Danny answered, pretending not to understand what Steve meant.

“Don’t do that ever again”, Steve said, emphasizing those words by biting Danny’s shoulder.

Danny didn’t say anything, only able to moan under Steve’s overwhelming assault.

“Don’t you ever run away from me again, _please_ ”, Steve sighed on Danny’s mouth.

They kept kissing each other until they heard someone was knocking at the door. Steve, who was more presentable, went to open the door.

“It’s your breakfast”, he told Danny, coming back with the tray in his hands.

“I’ll call to tell them to bring another tray for you”, Danny offered, reaching for the phone.

“No”, Steve stopped him, putting his hand on Danny’s arm. “I’m afraid I have to go.”

Danny looked at him quizzically.

“I have to go back to Napa, I’m already late! I have to substitute a friend of mine at tomorrow’s rodeo. It’s a last minute thing, so I only have today to get prepared, practice with the horse, get acquainted with the arena…”

“So you drove and will have to drive for all these hours even if you knew you had to go back home so soon?”, Danny asked in disbelief.

“Yes”, Steve confirmed, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Danny took Steve’s face in his hands and kissed him intensely, then he tilted his head a bit back: “So… the rodeo… I have to admit I don’t like the idea…”

Steve gave him a sly and sweet smile. “Do I …? Is that concern that I see?”, he teased him, then he placed a kiss on the tip of Danny's nose. 

“Yeah, jerk, I’m concerned, big deal.”

“Everything is going to be fine, okay? I know what I’m doing”, Steve reassured him.

“Yeah, yeah. Do me a favor and watch yourself, huh?”

Steve smiled and pushed Danny back on the bed. He covered his mouth with his own, kissing him deeply, then he looked at him with shining eyes and promised him: “I’ll think about you the whole time.”


	11. Chapter 11

As he parked next to the arena where the rodeo was taking place, Danny wondered if he had done the right thing.

The day before, after thinking about that for hours, he had decided to call his father to ask him to come to Madera, telling him _he had forgotten he had a very important thing to do in Napa_. Predictably, his father accused him to be a raving lunatic, but accepted to substitute him in Madera so Danny could go back and deal with his _very important thing_ in Napa.

And his _very important thing_ was in that arena, probably trying not to break his neck while riding a skittish horse.

Danny got out of his car and reached the side of the arena, trying to locate Steve among the crowd. Everybody was cheering for the cowboy who was in the middle of the arena trying to catch a calf that looked very determined to give the cowboy a _really_ hard time.

There was no sign of Steve… where the hell was he?

Danny wondered if Steve would have been happy to see him… what he would have thought.

Knowing him, he would have teased him for acting like a worried wife.

Danny was still looking around when he heard the people screaming in excitement, so he looked back at what was happening in the arena. The cowboy, about to fall on the  
ground, managed to get back on the horse by twisting his body in a way that looked frankly impossible to Danny, who was getting more and more sure that people got to be out of their mind to choose to do that sport.

Speaking of people who clearly were _out of their mind_ , Danny finally managed to see Steve on the other side of the arena, next to his horse, probably ready to compete himself, as soon as that cowboy would have caught that stubborn calf… Danny was definitely rooting for the calf.

The idea of watching Steve deal with a crazy horse made Danny nervous… then why the hell did he choose to go to that damn rodeo?

 _Because if Steve would've hurt himself, Danny would’ve been there_.

God. What was that man doing to him?

Meanwhile, the stupid calf got itself caught and the cowboy was leaving the arena, cheered by the crowd.

And there was Steve, with his smug face, entering the arena and leading the horse by the reins. With a sudden jump he saddled up and the horse started bucking, challenging Steve to follow its hectic movements to avoid a disastrous fall.

Fear knotted the pit of Danny’s stomach as he carefully watched every move Steve made. Luckily, either the previous cowboy wasn’t so good, or this calf was a lot less overexcited than the other one, because Steve managed to lasso it in a few minutes. Relieved, Danny made his way through the people to reach Steve, who was now leaving the arena, amid applause from the crowd.

Danny saw Steve bringing the horse to the people who were there to feed the horses and make them drink after the competition, then getting surrounded by several people who wanted to compliment him. A woman hugged him, throwing her arms around his neck.

Danny froze for a moment, a pang of jealousy hitting him, then he started walking again.

As soon as Steve saw Danny, he left that group of people and approached him, smiling from ear to ear. 

The way Steve was looking at him made Danny fear - _or hope?_ \- that he wanted to kiss him right there, in front of all those people.

“What are you doing here?”, Steve asked him in a fond voice. “Weren’t you supposed to stay in Madera for another two days?”

“Change of plans”, Danny said vaguely, then he looked over Steve’s shoulders.

“What are you looking at?”, Steve asked, looking back for a moment.

“I’m seriously getting worried for your _friend_ , you know? If she keeps looking at you like that I’m afraid her eyes will pop out of her head.”

“Well, that’s nice of you to be so worried about her, you don’t even know her”, Steve teased him.

“Based on the way she was rubbing herself on you, I guess _you_ know her very well.”

Steve smiled and shook his head at Danny’s acid remark, then he asked Danny to wait for a moment. He went to take the horse back, greeted his friends and came back to Danny.

That look, again. The one that made Danny fear and hope at the same time that Steve was going to do something _extremely_ inappropriate.

“I’m going to the stables, come with me”, Steve told Danny.

“If you think I want to get all amorous with you…” – good God, did he just say _get all amorous_ – “... in a stinking stable with the horses watching us, you’re wrong.”

“Danny!”, Steve exclaimed, feigning innocence. “First, you tell me you think I _know well_ that girl, now you think I want to _get all amorous_ with you…”

Yeah, Steve just _loved_ to rub it in.

“So, are you saying you don’t _know her well_?”

“I know her. I don’t _know her well_ ”

“Well, be sure she would love to _know you better_.”

“Can you blame her?”, Steve asked, winking at Danny.

Danny rolled his eyes.

They reached the stable where was the box assigned to the horse and Steve smiled. “Are you jealous?”, he asked.

“No.”

“That was jealousy.”

“No.”

Steve opened the box and kept smiling.

“For sure the girls _I_ know don’t rub themselves on me like she was doing with you”, Danny finally said.

“I’m really glad to hear that”, Steve said, guiding the horse inside the box.

“Maybe the girls _you_ know feel encouraged by you”, Danny suggested.

“Encouraged?”, Steve asked, frowning.

“Steve… it’s something I experienced myself. Before this… thing. The way you looked at me, the way you touched me. The things you said. It was all _more than encouraging_ , you know.”

At those words, Steve stepped closer to Danny, putting one of his hands on Danny’s shoulder, one on Danny’s hip.

“Danny, the way I’m with you… it’s just for you. The other people are just people I know. You…” He leaned down for a kiss that Danny immediately reciprocated. 

“We said no kisses in a stinking stable with the horse watching us”, Danny said a minute later, his mouth still on Steve’s.

“You said that, not me. You know…”, Steve said, breathing on Danny’s mouth, “when you tame a horse you try to make it think you’re doing what he wants… and then you sneak up on it.”

“Did you just compare me to a horse that needs to be tamed?”, Danny asked incredulously.

“I wouldn’t ever dare to do such a thing”, Steve said, amused.

They heard some voices and walked away from each other. A few seconds later, two of the other contestants walked inside the stable with their horses.

Steve went next to the horse to unsaddle it and he winced at the movement.

Danny got closer to Steve, worried. “Hey, what’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?”

Steve shook his head, then he touched his right shoulder. “No, I must have pulled some muscles when I tightened the reins.”

“Let’s go home. My mom has… well, I don’t know what it is… but it helps in case of muscular pains. It's very good, you’ll see.”

 

When they arrived at Danny’s house, the pain had gotten worse. Steve didn’t say anything, but Danny could see he was trying not to show he was hurting.

“Hey, stop being a tough guy, okay? My mother is bringing you her balm, I used it myself in the past. It works miracles, believe me.”

“It doesn’t hurt so much”, Steve said, smiling.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?”

“Danny, leave Steve alone. Not everyone is like you, acting like a dying man even if you only have a cold”, Clara reproached his son as she entered the living room with the balm in her hands.

“She loves me”, Danny said, sarcastic. 

“Here”. Clara handed Danny the bottle. “Go to your bedroom and massage his muscles until the balm is absorbed.”

Once in Danny’s bedroom, Steve sat on the bed looking around. “So, this is your bedroom…”

“Well, you’re a genius… Take your shirt off, come on.”

“Well, I expected to be romanced a little bit, first…”, Steve jokingly complained.

Danny gave Steve the stink eye, so Steve did as he was told.

Sitting on the bed so he was behind Steve, Danny poured some balm on his fingers and started massaging Steve’s shoulder with circular movements. When the balm was all absorbed, Danny kept touching Steve a little more than he had to, then he got closer to him and placed a kiss on his shoulder, followed by a trail of kisses that led to Steve’s neck. 

Steve sighed and turned around so they could share a sweet and intimate kiss.

Shortly after, Clara knocked on the door and told them to go downstairs to eat something.

Danny closed his eyes, hiding his face in the crook of Steve’s neck, and, despite his embarrassment, he smiled when he heard Steve’s soft laugh.


	12. Chapter 12

“Are we there yet? Really, Steve…”

“Shh, a little more patience”, Steve said, guiding Danny with his hands on Danny’s hips.

“You don’t miss a chance to keep your hands on me, huh?”, Danny accused him, laughing.

“I don’t want you to stagger”, Steve explained, whispering those words right in Danny’s ear.

“You’re so thoughtful…”, Danny smiled as Steve’s voice sent shivers down his spine. “Can I take off this blindfold, now?”

“We’re almost there…”, Steve assured him.

A few minutes later, Steve stopped Danny and took the blindfold off so Danny could see what was in front of him. 

It was Danny’s favorite horse, the one he had ridden the day after he and Steve had met each other and many other times after that.

Danny saw a red ribbon on the horse’s mane and he turned towards Steve smiling and shaking his head.

Steve laughed. “This is my Christmas present for you. It’s all yours. We’re going to keep him here at the riding ground, but I won’t let anybody else riding him.”

Danny put his arms around Steve’s neck and murmured a _thank you_ against his lips. “Are we alone?”, he asked right after that, looking around.

“It’s Christmas Eve, Danny. Everybody is home”, Steve answered before kissing Danny eagerly.

After that kiss, Danny blinked his eyes, confused. “I was about to tell you something, but I forgot what it was”, he admitted. Steve laughed again and he held Danny even tighter than before. “Focus”, he told Danny, teasing him.

“If you want me to focus, we can’t stay so close to each other.”

Steve shook his head. “No chance.”

“Ines!”, Danny suddenly exclaimed.

“Nope, my name is Steve.”

“You’re so funny… Ines, Steve. I want to wish her a happy Christmas before she leaves.”

Steve checked his watch and sighed. “Then we have to go”, he said, a puppy dog look on his face… a look Danny couldn’t resist, so he kissed Steve again before heading back to the car with him.

 

Shortly after, they were drinking some eggnog in Steve’s kitchen while Ines took care of the last things he had to do before leaving to spend the Holidays with her family.

“I can’t believe you didn’t decorate your house for Christmas, Steve. What do you have against the Christmas tree, the lights, the poinsettias…?”

“Danny, I live alone and I’m hardly home during the day… Plus, I’m not good with that kind of stuff. My mother used to decorate the house… she loved to do that.”

It was easy to read between the lines, and Danny felt like an idiot for asking. “Someone knocked at the door”, he said after a few seconds.

Steve frowned. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“I’m telling you someone knocked at the door! Go, lazybones!”, Danny urged him with a smile.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay. I’ll go.”

As soon as Steve left the kitchen, Danny asked Ines: “Ines, I need a copy of the house key, can you borrow me yours, please?”

Ines searched in the pocket of her apron and found a key that Danny managed to hide just before Steve came back in the kitchen.

“What did I tell you? There was nobody at the door”, Steve said, sitting back at the table. “I knew it, my eggnog got cold”, he whined.

“Poor thing”, Danny teased him, taking Steve's hand in his own without thinking, then awkwardly withdrawing it when he remembered that Ines was there. He sneaked a look at her, but she kept doing her chores like nothing happened.

Either she didn’t understand anything, or she understood everything all too well.

 

Turkey, roasted ham, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pudding and eggnog. A delicious Christmas dinner.

After they ate, they went to the living room, all of them, except for Heather, who went upstairs to put baby Eric to sleep.

The voice of Frank Sinatra kept filling the room with Christmas songs as everybody played cards or bingo, eating dry fruits and ginger and cinnamon cookies, waiting together for midnight to wish each other a Happy Christmas and exchange their gifts.

After the first poker hand, Danny stood up apologizing and said he had something to do but he was coming back soon. He avoided Steve’s questioning look on purpose and walked out.

He came back half an hour later and when everybody asked him where he had gone, he drew the attention away from himself pointing out that the clock on the wall said it was almost midnight.

Eddie was ready to open a bottle of prosecco. At midnight they made a toast and wished each other all the best. 

After the exchange of gifts, Danny cleared his voice. “My gift for Steve is at his house.”

Steve looked at him, surprised. “I thought this _wonderful_ sweater was your gift”, he said, still holding in his hands the red sweater with white patterns of reinders, snowflakes and bells he had just unpacked.

“That’s awesome, isn’t it?”, Danny grinned. “Sure. That’s _one_ of the gifts. _And you will have to wear it_. But there is another one. At your house. So… we have to go”, he announced, grabbing Steve’s sleeve and dragging him out, eager to show him what he had prepared for him.

During the short ride to Steve’s home, Danny managed to resist Steve’s attempts at finding out what the present was and, when they arrived, Danny told Steve to wait out for a couple of minutes.

Thorugh the small crack of the door, Steve could see that the fireplace was alight. After a few seconds, he heard Judy Garland’s voice singing “Somewhere over the rainbow”. It was the soundtrack theme from “The Wizard of Oz”, a movie he and Danny had seen together at the cinema. Danny didn’t want to go, protesting that Steve wanted him to watch kids movies, than he had ended up being all teary eyed and Steve had teased him asking if he needed a tissue.

When Danny opened the door, Steve could see the whole room illuminated only by the fire and lots of colored lights.

The plant that used to be at the entrance of the house had been moved to the center of the living room and decorated like a Christmas tree, with many colored lights and some glass balls. Other colored lights decorated the fireplace, along with some mistletoe.

Danny was standing up next to that funny Christmas tree-like plant, smiling like a loon. “Come on, close your mouth and shut the door”, he told Steve, who, still astonished, closed the door, then turned around again and started walking towards Danny.

“Danny… I don’t know what to say”, he admitted.

“Then don’t say anything. See this?”, he asked, showing Steve the mistletoe he was holding in his hand. “You know, traditionally…”

Before Danny could finish talking, Steve kissed him, holding him tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you”, he chanted between one kiss and the other. Then he knelt on the carpet and drew Danny next to him.

Steve cupped Danny’s face in his hands, looking at him like he was the most precious thing in the world. He kissed him, again and again.

Danny started stroking Steve’s back, his hands finding their way under Steve’s sweater and shirt.

Passion and desire added up to the tenderness of the moment. Every kiss, every touch, made them lose control and the way they were rubbing against each other made them only want more and more.

Steve took Danny’s sweater off and unbuttoned his shirt, kissing every inch of Danny’s skin as he exposed it. When Danny’s shirt was completely open, Steve hugged him, placing his head on Danny’s stomach.

After a long moment, Steve raised his head and moved himself up so he could look Danny in the eyes.

“I love you, Danny. I love you so much.”

Danny bit his own lip and swallowed. His eyes were shining, his voice trembled as he said: “Show me.”


	13. Chapter 13

“Do you need help with that tie?”

“I can make a decent tie knot, Danny”, Steve pointed out, looking at himself in the mirror.

“But I can make a _perfect_ tie knot”, Danny boasted.

“Then get up from that bed, come here and help me”, Steve said impatiently. “We’re going to be late.”

“Hey, I was fully dressed and ready to go to the party when I came to pick you up. Then _somebody_ decided _I looked so good in my tuxedo, but I would have looked even better without it_ …”

Steve smirked, following Danny’s movements with his eyes as he left the bed and put his underwear and his pants on.

“You have nothing to say, huh? Come here.”

“I’m here”, Steve said, facing Danny so he could fix his tie knot.

Once he had fixed Steve’s tie, Danny took a step back and looked at Steve from head to toe, with evident admiration in his eyes. “You know, if I hadn’t such a strong self- esteem, you would cause me serious problems.”

“What do you mean?”, Steve asked with a smile.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

Steve put his hands on Danny shoulders and turned around so Danny was the one leaning against the dressing table. “Maybe I want to hear you say it…”, he explained, his lips getting closer to Danny’s.

“Well, then.. I think you’re definitely ugly, I… I think I even find you to be _repulsive_ ”, Danny said, brushing Steve’s lips with his own at every word. When Steve tried to actually kiss him, Danny reluctantly tilted his head back. “If we go on like this, we’ll still be here when the New Year comes. Come on, I have to finish getting dressed”, he said, pecking Steve’s lips and then walking away from him to pick up his shirt, tie and jacket and wear them as quickly as he could as Steve watched him with a smile on his face.

 

They got to the party about half an hour later.

1955 was about to end and Danny’s family attended that New Year’s Eve party every year, as a way to maintain good relations with some old clients and to find new ones.  
They saw Danny’s parents and his sister Samantha sitting on one of the couches on the side of the ballroom. Getting closer to them, Steve and Danny noticed a girl neither of them had ever met before sitting next to Samantha.

“Danny, Steve, this is Laura. Danny, she’s Paul and Christine Morgan’s daughter”, Clara clued him in. “They came to visit us when you weren’t home. Paul and Christine didn’t feel like coming to the party, so they stayed with your grandma and her friends to play bingo. We thought Laura could’ve used a little more fun than that”, Clara explained with a smile. “I promised her that you and Samantha will keep her company tonight.”

Instinctively, Danny looked at Steve, who was just staying next to him, stiff as a board, then he shook Laura’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Laura. Of course we will be glad to keep you company”, he said, then he waited for what it seemed like an awfully long moment for Steve to stop acting like a Neanderthal animal and introduce himself to Laura.

Steve was nothing but a gentleman to Laura, but the night was still a complete disaster.

Both Samantha and Danny tried to keep Clara’s promise to Laura, showing her a good time, but Laura seemed to be way more interested in Danny’s company than Samantha’s or anyone else in the room, for that matter. Trying to be polite, Danny chatted with her all night, he even danced with her. To top it off, Steve noticed how intently Danny’s parents were observing the interaction between Laura and Danny.

Of course Steve didn’t even dare to hope they could have spent the night behaving like a couple in front of everyone, but he didn’t imagine they would have been basically the whole time apart because of a woman Danny’s parents were looking at as if they were thinking about the possibility of her being their future daughter-in-law… at least, that’s how Steve thought they were looking at her and, given his horrible mood, there was a chance he was exaggerating with his catastrophic vision of that night. 

Steve took a sip from his glass and met Danny’s gaze for the umpteenth time… they should’ve stayed home, in their bed, making love. Now, _that_ would have been the perfect way to say goodbye to 1955 and start 1956.

He checked his watch and saw that the countdown to the New Year was about to begin. The lights went down so the people could admire the work of the technicians, who had formed a “Happy 1956” sign with hundreds of tiny colored lights.

Taking advantage of the dark and the confusion, Steve dragged Danny out of the club when the countdown started.

As soon as they were out in the open, in a private spot, Danny opened his mouth to talk, but Steve stopped him. “Shhh… this is our moment”, he said right before kissing Danny. The kiss was so intense and heartfelt it made them forget that awful night. 

“Happy New Year”, they whispered on each other’s lips, relishing those few intimate moments before having to go back inside the club to wish a happy New Year to everybody.

Some friends asked Eddie to give them a lift back home, so Danny needed to take Clara, Samantha and Laura home. There went to chance to spend at least some time with Steve after the party. 

Awesome, just awesome.

But the next morning would’ve been just theirs, no matter what, Danny promised himself.

 

The first time they made love, on Christmas night, and every time after that, Steve was sweet, gentle, provocative and passionate. Basically, everything he was outside of the bedroom, but even amplified.

But that morning… it was different. It was … primal. Aggressive. It was about the need to stake a claim. Every thrust brought them closer to explode in myriads of fragments of pleasure. They chanted their names, again and again, losing more and more control, till they got overwhelmed by the pleasure and the intensity of their emotions.

Exhausted, they rested in each other’s arms for a long moment, then Steve moved so he could lie on his back, still holding Danny as close as he could.

Danny placed a kiss on Steve’s chest. “I should make you jealous more often, if this is your reaction”, he said, snuggling up next to Steve.

“Don’t you dare”, Steve said, pinching Danny’s ass to make his point even more clear.

“Ow”, Danny whined. “Okay, okay… I’ll ask my parents to stop trying to set me up…”, he said, his voice full of sarcasm.

“Don’t joke about this”, Steve told him, now pinching Danny’s hip.

“Hey, will you stop pinching me?”, Danny asked, squirming in the bed. “Let me enjoy in peace my favorite pillow… it’s a bit too hard and hairy, but it smells so good…”, he said, resting his head on Steve’s chest. He sighed and after a long moment he started talking again. “I don’t want to put my head in the sand. It’s not easy and we both know that... And for all that we know, _you_ could be the one deciding, one day, to do what the society expects you to do… getting married… procreate...”, Danny suggested, challenging Steve.

“Wow…”, Steve said, somewhere between feeling insulted and incredulous.

Danny looked Steve in the eyes. “What? Don’t _wow_ me. You know what? Maybe this whole thing about love overcoming all obstacles is just a fairy tale told by poets and storytellers to feed the delusion of…”

“Wow”, Steve repeated, shaking his head, speechless.

“Don’t _wow_ me!”

“… but you used the word _love_. That’s something. I thought you was allergic to it”, Steve said, smirking.

“Did I say _love_? I don’t think so”, Danny lied, smirking back. 

“You don’t think so, uh?”, Steve teased him, tracing a trail of kisses down Danny's neck and chest and stopping right over his heart. “You don’t think so… what about this, then?”

“It’s a physical reaction”, Danny joked, since he knew Steve could feel his erection against his thigh.

“This”, Steve said again,ignoring Danny’s attempts at changing the subject, pressing his lips over Danny’s heart, feeling it beating so fast.

Steve didn’t wait for Danny’s answer, he already knew it in his heart. He raised his head to look Danny in the eyes.

“I’ll prove to you that the storytellers and the poets are right”, he promised, then he flipped their positions with a quick and unexpected move.

“What are you doing?”, Danny asked, laughing.

“I’m trying to persuade you”, Steve said with a smile before kissing Danny.


	14. Chapter 14

Danny stuck out his head to look over the edge of the bathtub where he was soaking with Steve and noticed the little pool of water on the floor.

“I told you the bathtub wasn’t ideal for certain… activities. Look at that”, Danny said, smiling while resting his back on Steve’s chest, sitting between his legs, enjoying the warmth of the water that covered them both.

“We spilled a lot of water”, Steve confirmed, lazily rubbing Danny’s chest with a sponge. “We need to practice _a lot_ more”, he suggested cheekily.

“Your efforts in order to preserve the floor from getting wet are so commendable”, Danny joked, turning his head so Steve could kiss him.

“You know, we could always go to the river, there is a perfectly private spot for us to…”

“In your dreams!”, Danny interrupted him.

“Danny, it’s spring! The water is perfectly warm!”

“No.”

“Are you scared? I’ll be your personal lifeguard. I’ll give you mouth-to-mouth even if you won’t need it”, Steve promised.

Danny laughed but kept shaking his head. “No.”

“Why?”, Steve whined.

“Because, _Steven_ , call me crazy, but I’m not eager to get butt naked in the sunlight, with a potential audience. Are you familiar with the expression _where the sun doesn’t shine?”_

“Uhm… let me think about it… like, here?”, Steve asked, dipping his hand under the water to pinch Danny’s ass.

“Ow! Steve! You need to stop pinching me!”

“We could go after nightfall”, Steve suggested with a sly smile.

“You’re so funny. Really.”

“We could wear swimsuits.”

“You would find a way to take them off after half a minute”, Danny laughed. “Okay, the water is getting cold”, he said, getting out of the bathtub.

“What? It’s still warm!”, Steve started to protest… then he got distracted by the view Danny was offering him by walking across the room naked. “On second thought… yeah, it’s getting really cold”, he said, rubbing his arms and faking an exaggerated tremor. “We can warm ourselves up under the covers…”

Danny smiled at how incorrigible Steve was. “I would love that… but I have to go to the bank and I’m already late… Did you give Ines the day off because you thought I would’ve stayed all afternoon?”, he asked while getting dressed. 

“Actually, she asked me if she could go visit her parents… and I thought it was the perfect occasion for us to spend some time on our own”, Steve admitted, getting out of the bathtub. Danny stopped buttoning his shirt for a moment. They had been together for months now, but he never got tired of looking at Steve.

“I’ll try to come back later”, Danny said, starting to button his shirt again.

“Perfect”, Steve answered, smiling from ear to ear. “Now I can dress”, he added, making Danny roll his eyes.

“I didn’t say that because you were naked.”

“Sure… Oh, Danny, you put the last three buttons in the wrong eyelets”, Steve pointed out with a smirk.

Danny blushed a bit and fixed his shirt, getting closer to Steve to kiss him goodbye.

“If I’m not here, come to the stables”, Steve told him. “I have to fix a fence, but it should be a quick thing.”

“Don’t be so sure I’ll come back”, Danny teased him.

“Oh, you will. You will”, Steve said, right before kissing Danny to make sure he would’ve wanted to come back as soon as possible.

 

Danny closed the door of his house with his foot, intent on checking some papers.

“Danny…”

Hearing his mother’s voice, Danny raised his head to look at her.

“There’s someone waiting for you”, Clara said, clearly uncomfortable, looking towards Danny’s office, whose door was open. Danny looked inside and saw Rachel, sitting on one of the armchairs in the middle of the room.

He looked at his mother and realized she was as confused as he was about the reason of that unexpected visit, so Danny went in his office and greeted Rachel.

“What can I do for you?”, he asked politely.

“I haven’t been in this house for so much time… Are we still friends, Danny?”, Rachel replied, without answering Danny’s question.

“If you need to tell me something, I’m here”, he said, elusive.

Rachel stared at Danny for a few seconds before getting up from the armchair. “Things have not been good with Stan lately”, she said in a surprisingly flat tone.

For a brief moment, Danny thought about how he would have reacted to that kind of news only a few months before.

But those few months changed _everything_.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Rachel got closer to him. “When I’m with him I often find myself thinking about the way you treated me. About the way you loved me”, she said, putting her hands on Danny’s arms and trying to kiss him. Danny stopped her and she looked at him, confused by his rejection.

What could he tell her? 

That even the best moments spent with her faded compared to the simplest things shared with Steve? 

That she had never managed to make him feel as loved and happy as Steve did? 

That as much as he had loved her, he had never felt towards her feelings so intense and profound like those he felt for Steve? 

That he had gone from thinking about the day she had left him as the worst day of his life to thanking God for giving him the chance to be with Steve?

He could have told her all of these things, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to hurt her and, most of all, he didn’t want to share those things with her. They were way too important.

“There is someone in my life, Rachel”, he simply told her… and he thought her expression was that of a little girl who was realizing she had one less toy to play with.

“So, it’s over?”, she asked.

Danny nodded. “It’s been over for a long time.”

 

As soon as Rachel left, Danny’s need to be with Steve grew even stronger. Clara asked him the reason behind Rachel’s visit, but he told her it wasn’t important and that he had something urgent to do.

Shortly after, he was in front of Steve’s house. When Steve opened the door, Danny went inside, closed the door and took Steve in his arms, holding him tightly and kissing him.

In that kiss there was everything. Love, gratitude, passion, need.

Steve smiled on Danny’s lips and Danny pulled his head back enough to stare in Steve’s eyes.

“I love you”, he said, for the first time, and he almost laughed at the face Steve made hearing those words.

“Close your mouth”, Danny said, smiling and putting a finger under Steve’s chin, then he kissed him.

“... so… you gave Ines the day off… let’s put that to good use…”


	15. Chapter 15

Steve was ready to go to the stables when he saw Ines walking right up to him, visibly upset. “What’s wrong, Ines?”, he asked.

“There was a fire at the Williams’ ”, she said, and Steve felt his blood run cold. “I mean, in the vineyard, not in the house”, she added immediately. “Nobody got hurt, thank God.”

Steve nodded, sighing in relief, and rushed out of the house and to his car. When he arrived at the vineyard he realized that everything he could see from there was completely burnt and that broke his heart. He felt even worse when he saw Danny and his father talking to the firemen and how sad and lost they looked. He got out of his car and walked quickly towards them.

“Danny… Eddie… what happened?”, he asked, as soon as he reached them.

Seeing Danny so worried made him want to hug him and hold him tightly, but he couldn’t, and he hated that so much.

“Last night some workers started a fight… they weren’t even supposed to be here, it was late…”, Eddie started to explain. “Seems like an oil lamp fell off a table during the fight. Some plants caught fire and it soon extended through all the rows. Once it started, they couldn’t do anything to put out the fire… There are only a few rows left, they were separated from the rest because it’s a different type of grape…”

“Why didn’t you call me?”, Steve asked Danny, putting a hand on his arm and feeling awkward because he wanted to do so much more to comfort Danny but he was afraid he could give something away with all those people watching them.

Danny rubbed his tired eyes. “We didn’t have a moment’s peace the whole night. The police arrived, then the firemen, but it was too late to do anything. They just established the facts and the police took the workers who caused the fire with them.” 

“This is a disaster…”, Eddie said, running his hand over his mouth. Right after that, one of the firemen called him and he walked away to talk with him.

“Danny, I’m so sorry”, Steve said, squeezing Danny’s arm, trying to reassure him. 

Danny nodded, grateful. “We have to fix everything now, plant the grapes again, but it won’t ever be ready for October’s harvest… it’s too late. We won’t be able to honor our contracts, nor to conclude any other contract until we will be able to ensure a proper wine supply. We could buy the grapes from other producers and add that to what we have left, but that would require a huge expense and we need to figure out if we can afford it.”

“Listen, Danny. I think I have a good solution. I just need to make some phone calls.”

“Steve, this isn’t your…”, Danny started to object.

“Don’t you dare saying this is not my problem, because I’ll bite you, Danny”, Steve said with a brief smile. “We are together, your problems are my problems. Please, let me do this”, he asked, and Danny nodded.

“Thank you, Steve”, Danny said, moving his arm so he could take Steve’s hand and squeeze it, looking at him for a brief, intense moment before Steve left to do everything he could to help. 

 

About an hour later, Steve arrived at Danny’s house. Danny, Eddie and Clara were in the study, all of them busy thinking of possible solutions to their problems.

“Everything is fine”, Steve announced, smiling from ear to ear.

“Everything is fine?”, Danny repeated.

“Yes! I accepted the offer of a guy who was asking me for some time now a joint-ownership of the horse riding ground. We will use that money to…”

“No”, Danny stopped him.

“Danny, it’s just a loan”, Steve clarified, trying to persuade Danny to accept his help.

“Steve, you told me many times that you don’t like to take work decisions with someone else, that you like to work on your own…”

“It’s not a management thing, Danny. We will just share earnings and costs. It’s convenient for me, too!”

“Yeah, I bet it is”, Danny said ironically. 

“It is, Danny. Believe me. It’s a good deal and it gives me the chance to help you. Allow me to help you”, he asked, looking Danny in the eyes.

Danny stayed silent for a moment, then he looked at his parents. “Would you be okay with this?”, he asked.

“We would be more than okay”, Eddie admitted. “It would solve our problems… but… Steve, we don’t want to take advantage of your generosity. We will give you the money back as soon as possible, plus interest.”

“Absolutely not. I don’t want any interest, it’s my only condition.”

Clara moved closer to Steve and took his hands in her own. “Thank you _so_ much, Steve.”

“I’m just glad I can help”, Steve assured. “Now I have to go to Santa Rosa to sign the contract, we are doing everything today”, he said, then he left the house in a hurry.

“He loves you very much”, Clara told Danny, who turned to stone at those words. He looked at her, then at his father, taking a moment to think before simply saying: “Yes.”

“And you love him, too”, Clara added, a sweet, understanding look in her eyes.

Danny nodded.

Clara looked at her husband. Evidently on pins and needles, Eddie went next to his wife.

“We figured it out for a while. At first we hoped we were wrong, I won’t deny it. And when we realized we were right, we hoped it wouldn’t last. Not because we judge you… but because it’s… it’s not easy. But we get it, you don’t care about what’s easy. You’re happy and we want you to be happy. And for sure we don’t want you to feel like you have to hide from us.”

“I would have told you soon”, Danny assured.

“It was better this way”, Clara assured. “We figured it out day by day. If you’d have told us out of the blue, I’m afraid your dad could’ve had a heart attack”, she joked, making both Danny and Eddie laugh.

 

“This day started so badly, who’d have thought it could've ended so well?”, Danny said, tracing Steve’s chest with his fingers.

“Tell me I’m your hero”, Steve joked.

“You’re such a jerk”, Danny said instead, placing a quick kiss on Steve’s chest. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did today”, he told Steve, raising his head to look at him.

“Well, you already _thanked_ me”, Steve said with a cheeky grin. “Keep _thanking_ me like that and I will be a happy man for the rest of my life.”

“You’re a maniac”, Danny laughed.

“Yeah, and whose fault is that?”, Steve asked, leaning to capture Danny’s lips. “So…”, he whispered between kisses.

“So what?”

“Now your parents know about us. It’s official now… I like the idea, do you?”, Steve asked, smiling.

“I don’t know… I don’t know how long I will be able to put up with you”, Danny teased Steve.

“… you’re so funny…”

“… and I don’t know how long _you_ will be able to put up with me”, Danny added.

“Try me…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'll post as soon as possible the epilogue of this story. I hope you'll like it!


	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, at the end of this story. I hope I was able to make you smile and to give you some emotions. Thank you so much to all those who read and took the time to leave a comment. I hope you will enjoy this epilogue, as well.

Amsterdam, 2001

 

“This room is amazing”, Danny said, sitting on the edge of the bed of the suite where he and Steve were staying.

“It is”, Steve agreed, fixing his boutonniere in front of the mirror. “How is your knee?”

“My knee is fine”, Danny assured.

“Right, it’s one of the few things you didn’t complain about during the trip”, Steve said ironically, turning around to look fondly at Danny.

Danny rolled his eyes and got up to reach Steve. “Your tie is all jacked up. Let me fix it... Will you ever learn how to tie a tie?”, he asked laughing.

“Nope. I like too much to let you do that for me”, Steve admitted.

“Now that’s a shocking revelation”, Danny joked, looking up at Steve, who leaned so their foreheads could touch. “We’re really doing this”, Danny said.

Steve nodded, smiling. “We’re really doing this.”

Only a few days earlier they were sitting on their couch watching TV and they had heard _that_ news: the Netherlands were the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

They had looked at each other, smiling.

And now they were there, all dressed up, ready to go to the courthouse to marry each other. Some of their closest friends and relatives were already there, waiting for them.

Almost 46 years together. Years full of happiness and love. Laughs, bickering, passion. Respect, trust, loyalty, devotion. 

During those years they had always felt married to each other.

It hadn’t been always easy. They had foreseen and accepted that. For some weird reason their love hadn’t been considered by the society and the law to be worthy of the same rights and consideration of the love between a man and a woman, and the looks and thoughts of the people who noticed or found out the nature of their relationship hadn’t always been the kindest and most open-minded. But even in those moments they had always found all the comfort and joy they needed in each other and in the wonderful people they were blessed to have in their life.

Their life together had been like a dream come true. Like a walk in the clouds.

“Shall we go?”, Steve asked.

Danny smiled. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to commit, you know?”, he joked.

Steve laughed. “Well, what do the last 46 years tell you?”

Danny took Steve’s hand in his own. “They tell me I’ve been ready my whole life”, he said, looking right in Steve’s eyes.

Steve squeezed Danny’s hand and kept looking at him as they left the suite. “They tell me the _exact_ same thing.”


End file.
